A mother whose 5-year-old son was shot in the arm during a Mother's Day shootout in the Richmond, Va., project where they live told NBC 12 that she would rather be homeless than move back there with her child.
Tiara Saunders has only been home to the Whitcomb Court housing projects once, to gather clothes and other essentials, since her son Myronne Saunders was shot. They are currently staying with relatives.
As Myronne continues recovering from the shooting, his mother has been desperately trying to find new housing. She told the news station that she applied to the Richmond Redevelopment Housing Authority to ask that they be moved but was denied and given no reason for the denial.
"I don't want to go back," Saunders said through tears. "I just want to be somewhere where I can be at peace and my kids can play outside peacefully." She also told the news station that she would rather be homeless than have to return to live in a neighborhood that is unsafe.
The Richmond police have told the news station that they have no leads in the shooting. Although the mother doesn't believe that her son was the initial target of the shooting, the fact that the shooters are still out there adds to her fears.
Saunders told the news station that before he son was shot, he was a different boy. Now he can barely move his hand, and his arm must remain in a splint.
More important, his grandmother notes, his outgoing personality has disappeared. "He doesn't like to be around nobody," Pamela Miller told the news station. "He's always looking around, and if someone knocks at the door, he's looking at it. He definitely don't want to go back over to Whitcomb Court."
Read more at NBC 12.